Doug Specht awarded Advanced Teacher Status and recognised as a Chartered Teacher

Advanced Teacher Status (ATS) is a badge which allows educators to demonstrate to colleagues and future employers their advanced professionalism and mastery in further and higher education. It also helps them to advance their career into more senior roles, while simultaneously gaining Chartered Teacher Status from the Chartered College of Teaching.

The award is conferred through the Society for Education and Training (SET), who have worked in partnership with the Chartered College of Teaching to ensure holders of ATS are automatically given Chartered Teacher Status, cementing the parity of professional status between those teaching and training across all educational contexts.

Advanced Teacher Status is underpinned by 20 professional standards across areas including pedagogical practice, research, mentoring in classroom practice. The programme is open to those with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), and who have shown to be working at advanced practitioner level for at least five years. The programme requires candidates to undertake a year-long portfolio of work showing excellence in all 20 standards.

For his application, Doug Specht submitted an extensive portfolio related to the preparation and development of online teaching in the wake of COVID-19, and he also presented this work as part of a viva before being recognised as an Advanced Teacher.

Talking about being awarded Advanced Teacher Status, Specht said: “I am really pleased to have been awarded Advanced Teacher Status by the society, and also to be recognised by the Chartered College of Teaching. It was a long process of reflecting upon and analysing my practice, and I would like to thank those who supported me in this work, through observing my teaching, experimenting with me in new teaching methods, and providing references and letters of support. I would especially like to thank Gunter Saunders who acted as my mentor during the programme.”